I can only tell you all about my experience seeing the SE's, as they were the first theatrical versions I saw (I already had the Faces set on VHS at the time). The theatre I went to (where I saw all three, coincidentally) was a small Famous Players theatre in the middle of the Square One Shopping Mall in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. There's one there now that's a Cineplex Odeon, but that one is crapped compared to the old one that used to be near The Bay. When I saw the SW SE, the projector crapped out for an hour, forcing the manager to come in and tell us that there was just a delay. My aunt (who took me to two of the three) though she was going to see an entirely new film.

How wrong she was.